Four years later, after fin-ally pleading guilty to 10 counts of corruption, Tikka was jailed, prompting the CCC to ask the obvious question.

Could corruption at that level in the department happen again? A few months later, the CCC had the answer. You’d better believe it could.

“WA Health does not have adequate measures in place to prevent fraud and corruption in its procurement activities,” the report concluded.

“It is a problem that requires immediate and urgent attention from the WA Health executive.”

The plain English of the 2014 report was there for all to see.

But given the events of the past fortnight — when the public learnt how one of three corrupt NMHS executives was still receiving bribes for contracts last year — it appears the blinkers never came off at the department.

The only reason the other two executives, Mr Fullerton and David Mulligan, were no longer on the take is because the department had let them leave with more than $400,000 in redundancy payouts in 2016. At that time they were still under investigation.

CCC Commissioner John McKechnie insists the 2014 report, with all its red flags, was an opportunity missed.

“The report was tabled in Parliament so I’m not sure what else we can do,” he told The Weekend West.

“If they did address the concerns then it was not effective as regards Mr Mulligan and Mr Fullerton.”

A rather remarkable section of the 2014 report dealt with the department’s “fraud and corruption control plan” at that time.

“While the plan is described as current on WA Health’s website and in the Health Accounting Manual, it has not been operational for several years,” the CCC found.

“Within two years of its development, the plan was put on hold with the intention to review it once the Integrity and Ethical Governance Framework had been implemented. It is unclear whether the plan has any relationship to the framework.

“What is clear is that the plan remains on hold and has not been replaced.”

The CCC had to put on its Sir Humphrey Appelby hat to work all that out.